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YouTube Erased 700 Videos of Israeli Human Rights Violations
Friday November 7th, 2025 at 10:26 AM

The Intercept
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A documentary featuring mothers surviving Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A video investigation uncovering Israel’s role in the killing of a Palestinian American journalist. Another video revealing Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank.

YouTube surreptitiously deleted all these videos in early October by wiping the accounts that posted them from its website, along with their channels’ archives. The accounts belonged to three prominent Palestinian human rights groups: Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

The move came in response to a U.S. government campaign to stifle accountability for alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Palestinian groups’ YouTube channels hosted hours of footage documenting and highlighting alleged Israeli government violations of international law in both Gaza and the West Bank, including the killing of Palestinian civilians.

“I’m pretty shocked that YouTube is showing such a little backbone,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. “It’s really hard to imagine any serious argument that sharing information from these Palestinian human rights organizations would somehow violate sanctions. Succumbing to this arbitrary designation of these Palestinian organizations, to now censor them, is disappointing and pretty surprising.”

After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants and charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant with war crimes in Gaza, the Trump administration escalated its defense of Israel’s actions by sanctioning ICC officials and targeting people and organizations that work with the court.

“YouTube is furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes.”

“It is outrageous that YouTube is furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes from public view,” said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Congress did not intend to allow the president to cut off the flow of information to the American public and the world — instead, information, including documents and videos, are specifically exempted under the statute that the president cited as his authority for issuing the ICC sanctions.”

YouTube, which is owned by Google, confirmed to The Intercept that it deleted the groups’ accounts as a direct result of State Department sanctions against the group after a review. The Trump administration leveled the sanctions against the organizations in September over their work with the International Criminal Court in cases charging Israeli officials of war crimes.

“Google is committed to compliance with applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws,” YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle said in a statement.

According to Google’s Sanctions Compliance publisher policy, “Google publisher products are not eligible for any entities or individuals that are restricted under applicable trade sanctions and export compliance laws.”

Al Mezan, a human rights organization in Gaza, told The Intercept that its YouTube channel was abruptly terminated this year on October 7 without prior notification.

“Terminating the channel deprives us from reaching what we aspire to convey our message to, and fulfill our mission,” a spokesperson for the group said, “and prevents us from achieving our goals and limits our ability to reach the audience we aspire to share our message with.”

The West Bank-based Al-Haq’s channel was deleted on October 3, a spokesperson for the group said, with a message from YouTube that its “content violates our guidelines.”

“YouTube’s removal of a human rights organisation’s platform, carried out without prior warning, represents a serious failure of principle and an alarming setback for human rights and freedom of expression,” the Al-Haq spokesperson said in a statement. “The U.S. Sanctions are being used to cripple accountability work on Palestine and silence Palestinian voices and victims, and this has a ripple effect on such platforms also acting under such measures to further silence Palestinian voices.”

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which the U.N. describes as the oldest human rights organization in Gaza, said in a statement that YouTube’s move “protects perpetrators from accountability.”

“YouTube’s decision to close PCHR’s account is basically one of many consequences that we as an organisation have faced since the decision of the US government to sanction our organisations for our legitimate work,” said Basel al-Sourani, an international advocacy officer and legal advisor for the group. “YouTube said that we were not following their policy on Community Guidelines, when all our work was basically presenting factual and evidence-based reporting on the crimes committed against the Palestinian people especially since the start of the ongoing genocide on 7 October.”

“By doing this, YouTube is being complicit in silencing the voices of Palestinian victims,” al-Sourani added.

The three human rights groups’ account terminations cumulatively amount to the erasure of more than 700 videos, according to an Intercept tally.

The deleted videos range in scope from investigations, such as an analysis of the Israeli killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to testimonies of Palestinians tortured by Israeli forces and documentaries like “The Beach,” about children playing on a beach who were killed by an Israeli strike.

Some videos are still available through copies saved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or on alternate platforms, such as Facebook and Vimeo. The wiping only affected the group’s official channels; videos which were produced by the nonprofits but hosted on alternate YouTube channels remain active. No cumulative index of videos deleted by YouTube is available, however, and many appear to not be available elsewhere online.

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Videos posted elsewhere online, the groups fear, could soon be targeted for deletion because many of the platforms hosting them are also U.S.-based services. The ICC itself began exploring using service providers outside the U.S.

Al-Haq said it would also be looking for alternatives outside of U.S. companies to host their work.

YouTube isn’t the only U.S. tech company blocking Palestinian rights groups from using its services. The Al-Haq spokesperson said Mailchimp, the mailing list service, also deleted the group’s account in September. (Mailchimp and its parent company, Intuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Both the U.S. and Israeli governments have long shielded themselves from the ICC and accountability for their alleged war crimes. Neither country is party to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the court.

In November 2024, the ICC prosecutors issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, charging the leaders with intentionally starving civilians by blocking aid from entering into Gaza. Both the Biden and Trump administrations rejected the legitimacy of the warrants.

Since his reelection, Trump has taken a more aggressive posture against accountability for Israel. In the early days of his second term, Trump renewed sanctions against the ICC and issued new, more severe measures against court officials and anyone accused of aiding their efforts. In September, in a new order, he specifically sanctioned the three Palestinian groups.

The U.S. moves followed Israel’s own designation of Al-Haq as a “terrorist organization” in 2021 and an online smear campaign by pro-Israeli activists attempting to link Palestinian Centre for Human Rights with militant groups.

The sanctions freeze the organizations’ assets in the U.S. and bar sanctioned individuals from traveling to the country. Federal judges have already issued preliminary injunctions in two cases in favor of plaintiffs who argued the sanctions had violated their First Amendment rights.

“The Trump administration is focused on contributing to the censorship of information about Israeli atrocities in Palestine and the sanctions against these organizations is very deliberately designed to make association with these organizations frightening to Americans who will be concerned about material support laws,” said Whitson, of DAWN, which joined a coalition of groups in September to demand the Trump administration drop its sanctions.

Like many tech firms, YouTube has shown a ready willingness to comply with demands from both the Trump administration and Israel. YouTube coordinated with a campaign organized by Israeli tech workers to remove social media content deemed critical of Israel. At home, Google, YouTube’s parent company, secretly handed over personal Gmail account information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an effort to detain a pro-Palestinian student organizer.

Even before Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, YouTube had been accused of unevenly applying its community guidelines to censor Palestinian voices while withholding similar scrutiny from pro-Israeli content. Such trends continued during the war, according to a Wired report.

Earlier this year, YouTube shut down the official account of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. The move came after pressure from UK Lawyers for Israel, which wrote to YouTube to point out that the organization had been sanctioned by the State Department.

Whitson warned that YouTube’s capitulation could set a precedent, pushing other tech companies to bend to censorship.

“They are basically allowing the Trump administration to dictate what information they share with the global audience,” she said. “It’s not going to end with Palestine.”

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sarcozona
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‘I’ve stopped being eligible for the Covid vaccine and I’ve caught it three times in six months’
Thursday November 6th, 2025 at 2:28 PM

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A woman who had half her lung removed has called for the Covid vaccine to be given the same priority as the flu jab after she caught the virus three times in the months since she was dropped from the eligibility list.

Ella Halpern-Matthews, a historian from Kent, has a severe respiratory illness and has been asthmatic since birth.

She had half a lung removed due to cystic adenomatoid malformation and suffers from chronic chest infections, which make her more vulnerable to common colds and Covid. However, she stopped being eligible for an NHS booster vaccine earlier this year when the health service updated its criteria.

The 27-year-old takes precautions to protect herself by wearing a high-quality face mask and she avoids crowded, poorly ventilated spaces such as the London Underground. Despite this, she has still caught Covid three times since her last booster jab.

She says her health condition makes her feel “cut off from society”, forcing her to miss out on parties, concerts or family birthdays.

She said: “If I want to protect my health, I’m essentially forced to be a hermit and forgo community and life in public.”

She added: “Beyond the physical and mental exhaustion of infection, it’s been extremely difficult navigating the UK social scene, because no one wants to talk about Covid, no one tests when they’re sick, and people don’t like to cancel plans when they’re unwell.”

Ms Halpern-Matthews says she has had “frank difficult conversations with friends and loved ones” over testing and mask wearing and is now “actively seeking out new Covid-conscious friends”.

Seasonal Covid vaccination eligibility in England is now only available to adults aged 75 and over, older adult care home residents, and people who are immunosuppressed, according to The Green Book, which acts as a guide on immunisation to UK health professionals.

Ella Halpern-Matthews, 27, a historian from Kent, has a severe respiratory illness and has been asthmatic since birth

Ella Halpern-Matthews, 27, a historian from Kent, has a severe respiratory illness and has been asthmatic since birth (Supplied)

This represents a change from Autumn 2024, which included adults aged 65 to 74, or those aged six months and over in a clinical risk group.

Ms Halpern-Matthews used to fall into the immunosuppressed category, but since this spring, the NHS have tightened its criteria to only apply to those who are taking an immunosuppressant medication. Her last Covid jab was last year, and she has had a total of eight vaccines since 2021, all free on the NHS.

NHS Kent and Medway, Ms Halpern-Matthews’s local provider, said it was unable to comment on the details of individual cases, but said that it follows national vaccination guidance.

However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which sets national guidelines, said the Green Book’s list of immunosuppressed individuals is “not exhaustive” and “the prescriber may need to apply clinical judgment” to take into account the risk of Covid exacerbating any underlying disease.

Ms Halpern-Matthews has been forced to crowdfund for her next jab because she says she cannot afford to pay a private provider, with vaccines in the UK priced at anywhere between £75 to £120 from independent pharmacies.

She said: “Honestly, I’m broke. If I could afford to pay out of pocket, I would. But also, I guess some of it is about raising awareness of just how dire the situation is here.

Last winter, the NHS delivered 9.8 million vaccinations to protect those eligible against Covid-19, including over a quarter of a million care home residents

Last winter, the NHS delivered 9.8 million vaccinations to protect those eligible against Covid-19, including over a quarter of a million care home residents (AFP/Getty)

“You can get the Covid vaccine in France for under €10, you can get it across the EU for less. If I were to pay for the Eurostar and do a day trip to France and get it, it could cost me less than a private jab here in the UK on my preferred proverbial doorstep.”

“This is a really clear example of the two-tier health system we have now, where people who can afford private healthcare can just go and do all this themselves, and have a private GP and are able to access all these essential life-saving medicines.”

Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), described the NHS flu and Covid jab booking system as “chaos” and said some pharmacists had told her patients had become aggressive when told they were not eligible for an NHS Covid jab.

She said: “The NHS booking system this year is poor and has confused everyone. It allows age group 65 to 74 patients to book an appointment and self-declare themselves as immunosuppressed, even if they aren’t and the definition of immunosuppressed is not clear to them.”

The IPA raised concerns in August when the JCVI announced its decision to exclude patients aged 65 to 74 who are not immunosuppressed.

Ms Hanbeck added: “This is particularly worrying as there are reports of a new Covid strain. Last year, there were a lot of hospitalisations due to winter viruses; hence it is concerning that instead of increasing public protection by vaccinating a bigger cohort, they decided to limit it.

“Poor systems and poor communication by decision makers, leaving community pharmacies on the front line on their own to manage the chaos, is not helping patient care.”

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sarcozona
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Serious mental illness tied to increased risk of long COVID
Thursday November 6th, 2025 at 2:27 PM

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News brief

Depressed person on end of dock SanderStock / iStock

Adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or recurrent major depressive disorder—especially those who are older, Black or Hispanic, have chronic conditions, have public health insurance, or were hospitalized during infection—are at elevated risk for long COVID, according to an analysis published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.

To determine whether adults with serious mental illness (SMI) are more vulnerable to long COVID (also called postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 [PASC]) than those without SMI, a team led by a Weill Cornell Medicine researcher conducted a longitudinal cohort study from March 2020 to April 2023.

The study was based on the electronic health records of more than 1.6 million COVID-19 patients aged 21 years and older from 30 days to 6 months after infection. The average patient age was 52 years, 61.4% were women, 12.6% were Black, 13.5% were Hispanic, and 51.3% were White. 

Risk factors for persistent symptoms

A total of 15.9% of participants had an SMI, and 24.8% developed PASC. Those with an SMI were at a 10% higher risk for PASC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 1.11). 

These results suggest the need for coordinated approaches that simultaneously treat and seek to prevent PASC among adults with serious mental illnesses.

"The increased COVID-19 infection and mortality risks of adults with SMI are due in part to limited general medical care access, treatment adherence challenges, and the presence of comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes," the researchers wrote. 

A PASC risk factor was older age compared with ages 22 to 34 years (OR for 35 to 44 years, 1.04; OR for 45 to 64, 1.11; OR for 65 and older, 1.18).

Other contributing factors were Black or Hispanic versus White race (Black OR, 1.08; Hispanic OR, 1.12), chronic disease versus none (OR for Charlson Comorbidity Index [CCI] scores of 1 to 3, 1.13; OR for scores of 4 or higher, 1.23), hospitalization for infection versus none (OR, 1.80; hospitalization with ventilation, 2.17). Relative to public health insurance, commercial insurance was tied to lower odds of PASC (OR, 0.85).

"These results suggest the need for coordinated approaches that simultaneously treat and seek to prevent PASC among adults with serious mental illnesses," the authors concluded.

CIDRAP and CEPI launch resources to track development of coronavirus vaccines

News brief

lab vials iStock

Today the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP, which publishes CIDRAP News), in partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), launched a new digital home for the Coronavirus Vaccines R&D Roadmap (CVR) Initiative with expanded features for researchers, investors, policymakers, and the public.

In a University of Minnesota news release, the initiative called the revamped site "a global, open-access platform designed to track scientific progress toward the development of broadly protective coronavirus vaccines"—those that protect against multiple coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, and MERS-CoV, which causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

The new site boasts three integrated components:

  • Coronavirus Vaccine Technology Landscape: a curated, continually updated database of coronavirus vaccines in preclinical and clinical development, including broadly protective vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV.
  • R&D Progress Tracker: an interactive tool that monitors scientific advances and reports progress toward achieving the roadmap's goals and milestones in five areas: virology, immunology, vaccinology, animal and human infection models, and policy and financing.
  • CVR Scholar Hub: a resource center that features literature reviews, data syntheses, and other materials supporting researchers in coronavirus vaccine development.

The roadmap—originally launched in 2023 with funding from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation—outlines key goals and milestones to guide global coronavirus vaccine R&D. With CEPI's investment, and in collaboration with 50 global scientific experts, the new initiative serves to monitor progress in these priority research areas and further catalyze coronavirus vaccine development, which is critical for future preparedness and response.

Our goal is to turn information into actions—accelerating discovery, collaboration and preparedness for the next coronavirus threat.

"Knowledge is power when preparing for pandemic threats, so the more scientific information on coronaviruses we can develop and make accessible for researchers and policymakers worldwide, the stronger our defences when the next coronavirus rears its ugly head," said Nadia Cohen, PhD, CEPI's coronavirus vaccine program lead.

CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, added, "We now have a centralized, open-access resource that allows scientists, funders, and policymakers to see in real time where progress is being made and where critical gaps remain. Our goal is to turn information into actions—accelerating discovery, collaboration and preparedness for the next coronavirus threat."

Suspected measles case-patient refuses testing in Salt Lake County

News brief

measles Christopher Badzioch / iStock

Southern Utah has become the epicenter of measles activity in the United States in the past 2 months, but so far, Salt Lake County has not reported any infections. But a new probable case reported by the Salt Lake County Health Department changes that.

Officials said a Salt Lake County resident is likely the area’s first case of measles but is refusing to submit to confirmatory testing. 

The patient has declined to be tested, or to fully participate in our disease investigation, so we will not be able to technically confirm the illness.

"The patient has declined to be tested, or to fully participate in our disease investigation, so we will not be able to technically confirm the illness or properly do contact tracing to warn anyone with whom the patient may have had contact," said Dorothy Adams, MPA, executive director at the health department, in a press statement. "But based on the specific symptoms reported by the healthcare provider and the limited conversation our investigators have had with the patient, this is very likely a case of measles in someone living in Salt Lake County."

Adams urged cooperation with health officials, emphasizing the importance of contact tracing in measles outbreaks. 

59 cases in Utah so far 

So far this year, Utah has confirmed 59 measles cases, with most detections in Washington County, where a measles outbreak in the town of Hildale has fueled a Southwest measles cluster with neighboring Colorado City, Arizona.

Prior to this year, there had only been one confirmed measles case in Utah since 2020, a patient identified in 2023. 

Preventive gut decontamination strategy fails to reduce death in ventilated patients, trial finds

News brief

Digestive tract micribiota ChrisChrisW / iStock

A randomized controlled trial in Australia and Canada found that selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) in critically ill patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) did not reduce the incidence of in-hospital death, researchers reported yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the trial, a team led by investigators from the University of Toronto and the University of New South Wales randomly assigned 26 ICUs in Australia and Canada to use SDD or to continue standard care for two 12-month periods in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. The primary outcome was in-hospital death from any cause at 90 days. Microbiologic secondary outcomes included new positive cultures for bloodstream infections and antibiotic-resistant organisms.

The principal aim of SDD, which involves the application of a topical oral antibiotic paste to the oropharynx and stomach in combination with intravenous antibiotics, is to prevent the development of lower respiratory tract infections that can result from an overgrowth of gram-negative bacteria and yeast from upper gastrointestinal tract in mechanically ventilated patients. While more than 75 trials and systematic reviews have found that SDD is associated with reductions in mortality, adoption has been low because of concerns about the development of SDD-associated antibiotic resistance.

No reduction in in-hospital deaths

A total of 20,000 patients were involved in the trial, with 9,289 enrolled in the randomized trial and 10,711 included in an ecological assessment of microbiologic outcomes. At 90 days, 1,174 (27.9%) of 4,215 patients in the SDD group and 1,494 (29.5%) of 5,065 in the standard-care group had died before hospital discharge. The odds ratio for death in the SDD group relative to the standard-care group was 0.93. 

New bloodstream infections occurred in 4.9% of the patients in the SDD group and in 6.8% of those in the standard-care group (adjusted mean difference, −1.30 percentage points), while antibiotic-resistant organisms were cultured in 16.8% and 26.8%, respectively (adjusted mean difference, −9.6 percentage points). 

In the ecologic assessment, noninferiority of SDD was not confirmed for the development of new antibiotic-resistant organisms. Adverse events were reported in 12 patients (0.3%) in the SDD group and in no patients in the standard-care group.

Avian flu detected in house mice in Washington state

News brief

mouse in house David DeHetre / Flickr cc

Six house mice in Grant County, Washington, have been identified as having avian influenza, a mammal detection that is likely linked to increased avian influenza among wild birds in the same county. 

According to an update from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the mice were collected on October 15.

Grant County, which is west of Spokane, recently had seven avian flu detections in wild birds, including several ducks and waterfowl. Those detections occurred on October 23. 

Avian influenza detections in both wild birds and commercial poultry have skyrocketed in recent weeks as birds migrate south. 

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sarcozona
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This Physicist Says We Don’t Take COVID Seriously Enough | The Tyee
Thursday November 6th, 2025 at 2:26 PM

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Swiss Re, a global insurance firm that analyzes mortality risk by forecasting future life expectancy trends, pegged that number of excess deaths at two per cent above the pre-pandemic annual mortality rate. When you extrapolate that number to North America’s population of 617 million, that works out to be 120,000 unanticipated dead people per year.

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sarcozona
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"Swiss Re, a global insurance firm that analyzes mortality risk by forecasting future life expectancy trends, pegged that number of excess deaths at two per cent above the pre-pandemic annual mortality rate. When you extrapolate that number to North America’s population of 617 million, that works out to be 120,000 unanticipated dead people per year. "
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China-critical UK academics describe ‘extremely heavy’ pressure from Beijing | Universities | The Guardian
Thursday November 6th, 2025 at 9:24 AM

The Guardian
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UK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to “extremely heavy” pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector’s dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students.

The academics spoke out after the Guardian revealed this week that Sheffield Hallam University had complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, which had led to a big project being dropped.

One UK-based China scholar has since described being a victim of death threats and a smear campaign, while another was sanctioned for her work on human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and can no longer travel to China to conduct her research.

Others described “soft” or “indirect” pressure being brought to bear, leading academics to self-censor and risk-averse universities to avoid research that could bring them into conflict with China, which controls the flow of students to financially vulnerable UK universities.

In February, Sheffield Hallam, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its leading professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.

Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University, said a lot of academics felt it was too risky to speak out as they were worried about the consequences. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Emails seen by the Guardian suggest commercial factors were a consideration in placing limits on Murphy’s work. In October, after threats of legal action, the university lifted the ban and apologised, but the eight-month suspension has raised fresh concerns about the chilling effect that pressure from Chinese authorities can have on UK universities.

Murphy told the Guardian: “I think that there are a lot of people who experience some version of this, typically more subtle, usually not so black and white. But it’s too risky to speak out against their university. They’re worried they might suffer consequences.”

Andreas Fulda, a political scientist and China scholar based at the University of Nottingham, is among those to have been targeted as a result of his critical scholarship and media commentary. At one point, “spoof” emails bearing his name were sent to his colleagues announcing his resignation and inviting them to his farewell drinks.

He does not know who sent the emails. There have also been death threats to him and his family. “What I’ve come to learn is that once you reach a certain perception threshold in the eyes of the Chinese security agencies, you are punished to dissuade you from airing your views,” he said.

Fulda said he hoped the Sheffield Hallam case would be a turning point, highlighting the risks of the current UK higher education funding model, in which universities are heavily reliant on the high tuition fees paid by international students, of which the largest group is from China.

Recent government promises to increase domestic tuition fees in line with inflation were welcomed by the sector, although plans for a 6% international student levy to fund the reintroduction of maintenance grants risks wiping out much of the benefit.

Fulda said: “What can be seen quite clearly is that the Chinese party state has considerable leverage and British universities have considerable vulnerabilities. I am afraid that we will experience many more Sheffield Hallam incidents in the future if universities do not stop cosying up to China.”

Jo Smith Finley, a reader in Chinese studies at Newcastle University, was sanctioned by China in 2021 for her work on human rights abuses against the Uyghurs. She said: “Ever since then, Newcastle University has been walking a very difficult tightrope in its treatment of me, because I’ve become a liability in a context where universities are all dependent on Chinese student tuition fees.

“It’s extremely heavy, the pressure that the Chinese authorities bring to bear, both on university representatives working in the PRC [People’s Republic of China] on recruitment and also on university managers in the UK.”

Other academics in the field were reluctant to comment publicly. Against a backdrop of mass redundancies across the sector, one academic said: “I’m scared I will lose my job if I talk about my experiences of working on China in British universities.”

Universities UK, which represents the sector, said: “UK universities are committed to upholding free speech and academic freedom. They work hard to protect these fundamental freedoms and meet significant legal duties in this area set out by the Office for Students. This commitment extends to international research and partnerships with institutions around the world.

“UK universities take any threats to the freedom of their staff or students extremely seriously and we work closely with the government to prevent this. Anyone working or studying at our universities should know that their rights to personal and academic freedom are protected when they are on British soil.”

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The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession | WIRED
Wednesday November 5th, 2025 at 5:49 PM

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By Thiel’s telling, the modern world is scared, way too scared, of its own technology.

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sarcozona
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I am not scared of technology, I am scared of Peter Thiel having control of it.
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